Flags across Sikkim

Since the trip to Leh, Ladakh I have been in love with the prayer flags dancing to the wind... In Sikkim too, I saw them everywhere.. Some parts of the mountain,  have a row of single coloured flags, most of them are white and then in other places there are multi coloured flags.. Near the lake and mountains, saw plenty of smaller flags [like in Leh]... 

Some interesting facts about these flags that I learnt during both the trips,

~The Flags are of 8 different colours, each with a specific significance~The flags should never touch the ground~There are vertical and horizontal flags

~The flags should also be dancing in the wind, they shouldnt be still.~If the colour on the flag fades it is actually a good omen~These flags are best received as a gift..

Here are some flags from the trip 

[some might be blurred, cos I tried clicking them from moving car]... 

Drama in the skies... headed to Bagdogra

That was that, I had decided I was doing the trip to Sikkim. Next came the dilemma of travel, whether I wanted to fly direct to Bagdogra [a town in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal] or maybe to Kolkatta and then take an overnight bus/train.. Ultimately settled on direct flight to Bagdogra [ with stop over of 2.5hrs in Kolkata]. 

Upon landing in Bagdogra, we had to walk across the short distance to the airport.. I then managed to grab my rucksack, got out, found the driver/vehicle and headed out to pick up others. This is when I discovered this airport is located right next to Tea plantations.. :-) It was a pleasant surprise seeing the plantation!!

Sikkim Itinerary  

    The flight I took... 

For those who know me, window seat on a flight is my thing. And so here too I managed to snag window seat on both legs of the onward journey... here are some shots taken during the time I managed to stay awake...

Sikkim Diaries... The itinerary for the 9 day trip...

[Clicked this enroute Yumthang valley.. Rhodendron flowers were in full bloom]

Since I came back from Bhubaneshwar, I was busy chugging along life- work and things were happening and there were quite a few day trips and road trips that happened with friends/guys [most of which were unplanned]... And then, one day I stumbled upon Justwravel's insta story mentioning Sikkim. that was it! Within a few days, I had made up my mind and was looking at flight tickets [ which were sky rocketing, but then this sector is always on the higher side, esp cos I was looking at flights from Chennai to Bagdogra and not Kolkatta or other places in between. ] ... 

After quite a bit of deliberation, chit chat with friends and Rohan [justwravel], I finally decided to take the plunge and book my tickets.. Told myself that I rarely indulge and dont overspend on anything, so it was fine to spend 20k on flight tickets... :-) 

What was my agenda in Sikkim? Well, it did not include the typical touristy places which meant the places I was gonna go to would be offbeat and quite isolated.. Yayy!!  Here is the short version of all the places I went to during the 9 days there... 

Bagdogra / NJP/Siliguri to Gangtok ( 125 Kms ) - Overnight at Gangtok
Gangtok to Lachen (107 kms) - Overnight at Lachen
Lachen to Gurudongmar & onwards to Lachung [52 kms]- Overnight at Lachung
Lachung to Yumthang Valley, Zero Point & onwards to Dzongu [59kms]- Overnight at Dzongu
Dzongu local Experiences - Overnight at Dzongu
Dzongu to Gangtok (70 Kms)- Overnight at Gangtok
Gangtok to Gnathang (65 Kms) - Overnight at Gnathang
Gnathang to Aritar (72 KMs)- Overnight at Aritar
Aritar to Bagdogra / NJP/Siliguru and leave for respective home base/destination..

The plan on Justwravel site..

Detailed posts coming up on this.. If you are planning a trip to Sikkim or any of the places up North, do check out Justwravel. They do a lot of treks, and most trips are ex Delhi but completely worth it... I have done two trips with them so far and found them to be amazing.. well organised, planned out and touch wood, the gang has been small + good fun as well.